Civic Soldier Battles for the Wetlands
Hope for the Coast Hinges on Awareness, Action

As a young lawyer King Milling wasn’t all that interested in environmental issues. Sure, he noticed some dying vegetation, some ponding in the marshes when he went out duck hunting. Occasionally clients in the oil and gas industry mentioned problems with eroding canals and exposed pipelines, but Milling, like most Louisianans, didn’t realize there was cause for much concern. Yet he had friends who insisted that disaster loomed in Louisiana’s wetlands.

One day Milling listened impatiently as a friend spoke about “square miles of land loss.” It wasn’t news, the phrase was familiar, but that day Milling, who had become president of New Orleans-based Whitney National Bank, heard “land loss” and thought, “falling real estate values.” He heard “shrinking shrimp habitat” and thought “demise of Louisiana’s fishing industry.” He heard “conversion to open water” and thought “waves eroding the foundations of bridges and buildings.” Milling had read the facts and seen the evidence, but at this moment, for the first time, he recognized that he himself had a role in the story: stakeholder in Louisiana’s future.

CWPPRA

Louisiana is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. Approximately 40 percent of the coastal wetlands of the lower 48 states is located in Louisiana.

This fragile environment is disappearing at an alarming rate. Louisiana has lost up to 40 square miles of marsh a year for several decades - that's 80 percent of the nation's annual coastal wetland loss. If the current rate of loss is not slowed, by the year 2040 an additional 800,000 acres of wetlands will disappear, and the Louisiana shoreline will advance inland as much as 33 miles in some areas.

This prompted Congress to pass the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. It funds wetland enhancement projects nationwide, designating approximately $60 million annually for work in Louisiana.

Project List

The CWPPRA Task Force annually develops a list of high-priority projects to be constructed. To date, seventeen such priority lists have been formulated. The projects funded by CWPPRA all focus on marsh creation, restoration, protection or enhancement.

PPL Reports

Site

The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force Web site contains information and links relating to coastal restoration projects in coastal Louisiana.